People v. Johnson

The defendant was informed against in the superior court of Humboldt County by the district attorney of said county for the crime of maintaining a common nuisance, as said crime is defined by section 21 of the so-called “Wright Act” (Stats. 1921, p. 79), the purpose of which is to enforce the provisions of the eighteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States. As is commonly known, the legislature of 1921, by and through the act just named, adopted all the provisions of an act of Congress, known as the “Volstead Act” (Ann. Fed. Stats. 1919, Supp., 212, 41 Stat. 305 ), the design of which was and is the enforcement, within the limits of the federal jurisdiction, of the said amendment to the federal constitution.

The defendant was, upon being tried for the offense so charged, convicted. He made a motion for a new trial, and the same was denied. He prosecutes this appeal from the judgment of conviction and the order denying him a new trial.

So much of section 21 of the act or acts mentioned as affects the present consideration reads as follows: “Any room, house, building, boat, vehicle, structure, or place, where intoxicating liquor is manufactured, sold, kept or…